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Thursday, November 3, 2016

I'm a guest blogger over at Cali & Co., wahoo! I had a great time sewing up the fabric they provided me with (Cali Fabrics free fabric... how could I say no?!) and making my favorite sports bra, the Greenstyle Endurance Sports Bra. Go check it out!

Monday, October 31, 2016

I think it's about time to do an October round up! Way back in September I discovered my love for Instagram. It works great for my business (The Meanie Greene) and for my personal over-sharing pursuits. So, in a way, it has taken place of my blog a little. Also I no longer carry my nice camera around with me and almost always take photos with my phone... the quality is not as wonderful but I do take more pictures. Anyway, October has been a busy month for us! The kids are in 2 playgroups, bookends to the week with one on Monday and one on Friday. And each takes us in an opposite direction but gives us plenty of opportunity to meet new friends and visit new places. We've painted pumpkins, baked bread, colored, felted balls, played dress up, etc, the list goes on.

We visited Castine to Eastport to Southern Maine. Visiting friends, family, and everyone in between. I ran a half marathon too! It is fun to load the kids in the car and take them on an adventure but also fun to hang back around the house. Mr. Meanie, his father, and our friend (from down the road) completed the siding on the Ell. We purchased our cedar shingles from Longfellows Cedar Shakes in Windsor, Maine. We love the quality and the price and have plenty left over to finish off parts of the old house too. The gutters have been added, parts of the old has have been re shingled. This means we are ready for winter!

And I sewed a ton! After the lull of summer I took on a lot of custom orders that I am finally finishing up. I love having so much to sew for others but it bums me out to not fit in everything I want to selfish sew. I managed to sew up a few "mama and me" leggings to match Audrey and also completed the kid's Halloween costumes (which I will share later this week). And I have created a very, very long list of Christmas sewing and have begun to work on that.

Thursday, October 6, 2016

We have lived in our home just over 6 years! It is amazing how fast time flies by. When we were house hunting we knew that we wanted land but beyond that we weren't sure what else would spark our interest. Driving by this home by accident we fell immediately in love, envisioning the our future children would play in the back yard and in the woods (and this part is definitely true... they love being outside).

Once we settled into the space it was clear that although the home was a great space (especially with the barn connected) the kitchen ell was in need of repair. The more we lived in the house the more the floor wiggled. Stomping across the floor shook everything in the room and when we had family gatherings we did worry that at some point we would all fall through the floor! (which didn't happen!). I wanted to save the ell but Mr. Meanie wanted to tear it down. Obviously he won that argument and we started a 2 year long project that would change our home and our family (since during that time we also welcomed baby #2). (for background check out: Timberframe 1, My Valentine,Sill,It Has Begun!, Raising the Frame, And although it is very close to completion we have found that all of the smaller interior/exterior projects are harder to complete. I know that Mr. Meanie is experiencing a little burn out from this venture and all of the finishing work is easy to ignore since we are very happy with what has already been completed.

I did my best at showing a comparison of what we had and what we now have. It wasn't easy since the interior is completely different. Our sink now faces the backyard and in the old kitchen it faced a side wall. The space is a little wider since we no longer have a closed in sun porch on the front. And, of course, I have a sewing room. I use to have my sewing room in the "formal dining room" area but since it was in the middle of our home activity Audrey would always get into my stuff. We still have a lot of idea on how to better organize my sewing space since I have A LOT of fabric and notions in totes and bags everywhere...But more on my sewing room later!!

We were going for open, airy, and light. I think we were successful especially with the larger windows, glass front cabinetry and the vaulted timberframe ceiling. As you remember, Mr. Meanie harvested Spruce from our property, Alaska Chain Saw milled it in the back yard during many a' blizzard (and flu), hand chiseled all the notches and grooves in the beams, and we had a large party of friends and family help us erect the beams 2 summers ago. Phew! And that was just the beginning of the work and we were very fortunate to find a few awesome helpers to finish it up with us. Perhaps to some it seemed like a hassle to help out but we hope that many had a good experience raising a timberframe. Structures are not built like this now-a-days so it is likely that many will never do it again. We were happy that everyone was able to share in the experience with us.

We added a hallway to the barn and along that hallway are doors to the tiny bathroom, my sewing room, and the basement. I love our tiny bathroom... so cute! Before we had a larger bathroom off the kitchen (which was located near the kitchen table... a little awkward).

A few months ago Mr. Meanie built the back deck, pulled out the ash tree stumps and leveled and spread loam on the backyard. We will add a fence to the backyard to contain the children and keep the chickens out. I am also moving my garden over to raised beds within this fenced in area so I can better manage it with the kids running around, keep the chickens out, and add to the overall ambience of the backyard. As mentioned before, we still have a lot of finishing work to complete, most of it interior so we'll tackle it this winter. We also still need to lay the floor but kind of like the ruggedness of the subfloor for now. With kids, there is really no point in having anything nice!! And once this part is complete we'll likely move on and renovate the rest of the house. No rush, though. We would really like to recycle renovate the rest of the house, using existing features, windows, etc. and just open up the floor plan and add some paint.

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Little Miss Meanie LOVES catching frogs. While it did start out with the tadpoles we attempted to raise in the kitchen, it really took off when Mr. Meanie bush hogged the field a few weeks ago. He saw a TON of frogs (and snakes) and would fly off the tractor to catch them for her. The most were concentrated around a drainage stream and this is where we still find them although I am sure they wished they lived somewhere else.

So every day, often two or three times, we go out and catch frogs. While Dad prefers using his hands and relying on stealth; Mom prefers a net (especially when balancing JPel in the other arm). I think my way is better since one day we were able to find 7 frogs while Mr. Meanie only found 5... but alas, it is not a competition.

And today I whipped up this Brindille & Twig t-shirt dress for our frog catching adventure. Since I only ordered fat halves and had used some of the fabric to make undies, I had to pieces together the frog dress but it still looks great! Audrey was very happy to wear it. It is sized at 4T so a little big on her but I am confident that she will fit well in it by next spring when we go out and catch frog eggs.

Thursday, September 1, 2016

This lovely pattern by Greenstyle Creations is finally available for purchase!! The Endurance Sports Bra Pattern has been released in bands 28" to 33" (this is your rib cage measurement) and cups B - H. (and now released in larger band sizes!) I measured in pretty true-to-size. I started testing the pattern in the beginning of July and it was a long process since everyone is their own shape/size... I am still amazing that store-bought clothing can actually look good on people without any alterations (don't worry, I wear store bought clothing so I'm just making a statement!).

I have never made myself a bra before and have been meaning to get into it. It is surprisingly easy for an intermediate sewist and for best fit I recommend making your own bra. I actually feel like a woman in this bra rather than a pre-teen (shelf bras squish!). I look forward to making many more and am patiently waiting for my foam to come in along! For supplies I used swim knit (sorry, kitties is sold out in Dark Matter Fabric Shop), bra foam, fold over elastic, and sports zippers (which I got at joanns but I am sure there is a site for zippers!).

Right now the pattern is on sale and if you purchase you will be entered to win a free pattern from the site (contest closed). Yay! So if you wanna try it out, don't wait!!

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Sometimes it is fun to play dress up. Seven years ago, in May (on a much cooler day), Mr. Meanie and I said "I do!". And since then our lives have been a whirlwind of travel, jobs, apartments, new friends, old friends, creating home, babies, Carlie, kitties, and chickens! Relatives and people we knew passed away and on the flip side almost ever child we know (niece, nephew, friend) was born during this time. In our own little world everything seems pretty perfect although the national and global climate is a wreck and while all of that stuff doesn't exactly effect us RIGHT NOW, it will soon enough.

For now, though, we will play dress up in our backyard and enjoy the last of summer. This particular day was hot and humid. I realize a little now why my wedding dress was hanging in the closet for the last 7 years. It is practically a snowsuit with 3 layers of heavy fabric and tulle. But it sure is pretty! My mother took the photographs as she is very skillful with the camera and always up for a occasional eccentric photo shoot. She took over 150 photos of us and edited the best of the best (thank you!). The kids dressed up in momma-made creations and Mr. Meanie caught a few frogs and toads to entertain Audrey. We grabbed our loveliest Golden Laced Cochin pullet and dragged her (reluctantly) into the shoot. We often talk about how fantastic it would be to have our wedding again, on our terms, here at the farm... Ten years is right around the corner; perhaps we'll pull together a celebration.

Sunday, August 28, 2016

August is proving to be as busy as July; which is great! We are managing to soak up every last bit of summer fun before the cold hits. Remember all those meatbirds we had processed a month back? Well we finally got around to cooking up the first one and it was DELICIOUS! We harvested an entire dinner of homegrown food, sides of tender carrots, roasted fingerling potatoes with garlic, onion, and parsley, beautiful beets and finished out the meal with blackberry pie, berries harvested from the hill. My father is a "localvore" and will only eat meat if it is locally grown so we invited my parents down to partake in this delicious meal. What a treat!

Last night we finished off the chicken by making pot pie and now I need to cook up some chicken broth/stock. I have never done this before but I am pretty sure it is simple! But the harvest continues, this week I will pull up the onions and beets. I think I will winter most of the carrots and parsnips since it does seem that the flavor improves the longer they sit.

Happy Sunday,

shelby g

(oh! follow my shop on instagram: TheMeanieGreene. I will have a giveaway when I hit 100 followers... halfway there now :)

The Meanie Greene

About Me

I'm Shelby Greene, a 31-year-old mother, crafter and artist. Our family of four own a 65 acre farm in Downeast, Maine. We live in an old farm house that was built in the 1800's and are working on our first renovation project replacing our kitchen "L" with handmade timberframe. I love anything artistic and sustainable and am working on finding a niche for our family in this wonderful community. I also the brain and brawn behind The Meanie Greene cloth diaper shop on Hyena Cart and Etsy.